Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio Railway Records

Collection

Identifier: AppMs-0096

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway records contain corporate minutes and reports, financial and marketing files, engineering drawings and blueprints, personnel and accident files, and photographs documenting the preliminary construction, management, operation, and the financing of the railroad company between 1899 and 1983.

In addition to the information on the operation of this railway from Spartanburg, South Carolina, across the Appalachian Mountains to Elkhorn, Kentucky, the records contain much information on the businesses and communities along its route. Shipping coal from the coal fields in Kentucky and Virginia constituted a large proportion of the railway's business.

The records were received in three significant donations and are described in the following three groups:

Original Acquisition
The original acquisition consists of minute books, corporate annual reports, annual reports of the general manager, annual reports of the Louisville and Nashville Law Department, correspondence, engineering files, accident and personal injury files, special excursion files, general subject files, Holston Land Company correspondence and ledgers, Black Mountain Railway ledgers and financial statements, vouchers for the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway, Meadows Company, Carolina Company, South and Western Railway, and the McCabe Company, publications, and payroll ledgers documenting the general operation of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway between 1899 and 1979. The original acquisition is broken down into twelve series.

First Addendum
This addition contains the same type of material as the original acquisition and has been arranged in series and subseries that parallel the original acquisition. New types of material in this addition include typed corporate minute books of board of directors meetings of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway and related companies; annual reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission, state regulatory agencies and stockholders; correspondence, legal agreements, deeds and title abstracts concerning the Holston Land Company and Black Mountain Railway; and miscellaneous accounting and financial reports of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway and its related companies.

The records largely concern the corporate operation and financial matters of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway and its related companies. Subjects covered include company organization; acquisition of property and equipment; reporting relationship with regulatory agencies; and the construction of railroad facilities.

The typed minute books in this addendum are duplicates to the photocopies of minutes in the original acquisition. However, since the two sets of minute were not exact duplicates, the researcher should check both groups.

The records span from 1905 to 1967. Additions were made to the following series: Series 1, Minutes; Series 2, Annual Reports; Series 7, Subject Files; Series 8, Holston Land Company; Series 9, Black Mountain Railway; Series 10, Vouchers; and Series 13, Accounting Files.

Second Addendum
This addition contains the same type of material as the original acquisition. New types of material in this addendum include property rental agreements, property changes/engineering report ledgers, blueprints of new equipment designs, and preliminary line maps documenting the general construction and operation of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway between 1902 and 1983.

While both previous acquisitions contain several different types of maps, the second addendum includes many of the preliminary survey maps illustrating the track layout, bridges, track crossings and stations. The maps measure approximately 3 feet by 25 feet and are individually boxed. In addition to these maps, there are two seismographic blue-print maps of the entire Clinchfield route dating 1949. The blueprints contain mile posts, bridges, rail crossings, stations, rail and track bed gauges, and significant geographical characteristics. The blueprints measure approximated 2.5 feet by 105 feet and are boxed similarly to the preliminary line maps.

Dates

1899 - 1983
Majority of material found within 1909 - 1954

Creator

Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research at the Archives of Appalachia.

Extent

473.00 linear feet (Consisting of 341 manuscript boxes, 21 oversize boxes, 110 rolled maps, 211 volumes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection was received in three distinct donations: original acquisition, first addendum, and second addendum.

The original acquisition is broken down into twelve series: Series 1, Minutes; Series 2, Annual Reports; Series 3, Industrial Agent Correspondence; Series 4, Engineering Files; Series 5 Accident and Personal Injury Files; Series 6, Special Excursion Files; Series 7, Subject Files; Series 8, Holston Land Company; Series 9, Black Mountain Railway; Series 10, Vouchers; Series 11, Publications; Series 12, Payroll Ledgers.

When the additional records were processed, materials were added to existing series when possible. However, two additional series were created: Series 13, Accounting Files and Series 14, Engineering Maps and Drawings.

Custodial History

For many years the records generated by the various departments of the railroad were housed in the basement of the general offices in Erwin, Tennessee. In 1977 the railroad offices were inundated by a disastrous flood. The water level rose to several feet in the basement destroying many of the official records and severely damaging most of those remaining.

In June 1980 retrieval of those records began as archives' staff inventoried the basement repository and noted all salvageable records. Sampling techniques appropriate to specific record types were employed in cases where sizable volumes of similar records existed. Wherever possible, reports for each year or entire record groups were taken. Because the Accounting Department was relocated to Florida in 1971, few financial ledgers remained in the Erwin facility.

Method of Acquisition

The records of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway were placed in the Archives of Appalachia in three separate donations. The first group of records were donated to the Archives in July 1980 by John W. Thomas, general manager.

Accruals and Additions

A second group of records were placed in the Archives of Appalachia on May 11, 1984 by R. Harvey Chappell, Jr., an associate of the law firm Christian, Barton, Epps, Brent and Chappell which was representing the interests of the railway. The records largely concerned the corporate activities of the railway and were shipped to the archives from Richmond, Virginia.

The third group of records was deposited in the archives on December 26, 1988 by Michael E. Tilley, president of the Watauga Valley Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society. These records had been stored in a vault at the general offices in Erwin, Tennessee.

Separated Materials

Several audiographs and audiotapes have been removed from the accident and personal injury series. They contain accident and autopsy reports and accident investigation interviews.

All photographs found in the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway collection have been removed and place in the Archives of Appalachia Photographic Archives.

Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Gold Bond, given by Jim Goforth, placed in Map Cabinet.

Processing Information

Processing was completed under the direction of Michael Shandor and Richard Kesner. The collection was opened for research in 1981.

Graduate assistant Emily Dingler reboxed, refoldered, and reordered significant portions of Series 1-10 in 2020-2022.